Town Square

Pleasanton man in critical condition after argument with noise makers near his home

Original post made
on Sep 24, 2013

A Pleasanton man was left for dead at the side of the road after confronting people parked outside his home making noise late Friday night. The man, a resident of Middleton Place, is in critical condition, according to a news release from the Pleasanton Police Department.

About 12:10 a.m. Saturday, he walked out of his home on Middleton Place to "confront some juveniles who were making some noise," said Pleasanton police Sgt. Maria Munayer. "During the confrontation, an altercation ensued. We don't know exactly what occurred, except for the injuries sustained to the victim."
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Investigators have identified several "persons of interest," teenage boys who attend Pleasanton's two high schools, Munayer said. They were being interviewed and have not been arrested, she said.

Lamont's home backs up to open space and a trail popular with hikers, but there had been no major complaints about teens loitering in the area, police said.

Hmmm. Not quite the clear-cut story that was told before, is it? Maybe before forming up the lynch mob to "go get the thugs and there [sic] parents" and impose the "very harsh" penalties on the "cretins" - no matter what their age - a little more information is in order. A lot of people jumped to conclusions in the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case that turned out to be not quite correct as well. Who started the fight? Who threw the first punch? I guess we just don't know yet, but the fact that no one's been arrested so far, even though the identity of the kids involved is known, gives me pause.

"Huh": If ignorance is bliss, you must be very happy. A wife, two teenager daughters, and the entire community of Pleasanton is mourning a horrific injury some young punks inflicted on a law abiding father who simply went outside to ask them to keep the noise down after midnight. After knocking him unconscious, they simply left him there to die. And you want to know who started it?

I blame people like you, and your liberal attitude, for enabling people's bad behavior. When I was a teen, if we were making noise near someone's property, and they asked us to keep it down, a "Sorry sir" would have been our response, and we would have left politely. Now, people like you defend bad behavior by others, wrongly questioning what the true victim allegedly did wrong to cause the situation. Even in your hypothetical of "who started it", assuming the father did, how do human beings just leave a man unconscious on the ground, and leave him to die, without at least calling an ambulance or letting someone know he needed medical help?

But you actually take the time to suggest maybe the victim is in the wrong, and have the nerve to suggest the "race card", i.e. Trayvon Martin reference?

With all due respect, American: You're a moron. What I'm saying is that we don't know what really happened. Most people saw Trayvon Martin as the victim of a vigilante based on initial reports, but later evidence indicated (and the jury found) that he had actually initiated the fatal struggle, and was responsible - at least in significant part - for what happened.

You have decided that the "true victim" was "a law abiding father who simply went outside to ask them to keep the noise down" and that a group of teenagers are "punks." Question: were you there? Because if you weren't, you're making assumptions on less than adequate data. What happened is a tragedy - no question about it. (I'd suggest that the same is true in the Martin case, but the "race card-card" players like you would no doubt be up in arms at that suggestion. I have no idea what the race of any of the people involved in this situation is.)

You may be right about what happened. But you also may be wrong, and if you are, you and the rest of the vigilantes are a greater threat to the community than those you paint as "punks." All I'm saying is let the police do their job. If you know the family of the injured man, offer support. Other than that, put away the hanging rope until more is known about what happened.